Lock-nut.



PATENTED JUNE 13, 1905.

. H. SMITH. A

l LOCK NUT. ABPLIGATION FILED AUG.19, 1904.

mepe. Event ov* @y M pi e..

Patented June 13, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. SMITH, OF ROOKFORD, ILLINOIS.

LOCK-NUT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 792,292, dated June 13,1905.

Application filed August 19, 1904. Serial No. 221,418.

To all whom, t Indy concern:

Be it known that LCHAELES H. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Rockford, in the county of l/Vinnebago and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inLock-Nuts, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a lock-nut which can beinserted and held in place without the necessity for using keys, pins,or other locking devices and which can be inserted by means of a wrenchof any usual and ordinary character, which obviates the necessity forproviding unusual or special appliances for screwing the nut into place.

A further object of the invention is to so construct the nut that itwill combine within itself all the features necessary to lock it inplace, such features being so arranged that they will act automaticallyand lock the nut by the mere operation of turning the same into place.

The invention consists in the features of construction and combinationof parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figures l and 2 are side elevations of the nut inanormal 'or unlocked position; Fig. 3, a view showing the nut locked ona bolt; Fig. 4, a cross-sectional view showing the nut in place on abolt and in unlocked position; Fig. 5, a similar View showing the nut inlocked position, and Fig. 6 an end view of the nut.

The nut is constructed in any usual and well-known shape from a strip ofsteel bent or turned when in soft or annealed condition to form a seriesof body-coils A, terminating in a locking end coil or coils a. The coilsare so formed or turned as to provide a flat bodyface B and a flat endface parallel with one another, so that the completed nut will have thegeneral shape and appearance of a nut of ordinary construction. Thecoils are formed of substantially uniform thickness from end to end ofthe nut and have their flat contacting faces lying parallel with theouter body-faces of the nut, except for the connecting portions b of theseveral coils, which are sharply bent or turned into oblique relation tothe coils and serve as a means for locking the coils together andpreventing their lateral displacement with respect to one another whichmight occur if the coils were arranged on a uniform slope or bevel.

As shown, the nut is made in hexagonal form, although it might be madesquare, round, or of any other suitable shape, since the nut can be cutor pressed to have a suitable shape after the coils have been bent orturned.

The body-coils, which form the body of the nut, are provided with ascrew-threaded opening C therein and the locking end coil or coils areprovided with a smooth bore o of slightlygreater diameter than thescrew-threaded bore or perforation. The locking end coil or coils areoutwardly sprung from the body portion into the position shown in Figs.l, 2, and 4, which is the normal or unlocked position of the nut. Y

After the nut has been formed as above specified it is tempered to givethe locking end coil or coils a resiliency, so that they form, ineffect, a spring normally open from the body of the nut and adapted tobe forced back into contact therewith under pressure.

As shown, the nut is applied to a screwthreaded bolt D, which passesthroughafishplate d or other suitable object, and the nut is screweddown by means of a wrench of any ordinary character until the springcoil or end contacts the fish-plate, after which the nut is stillfurther screwed down to compress the resilient coils into the positionshown in Fig. 5, in which the nut will be held under a strong springtension on the bolt, which prevents its being accidentally removed andnecessitates the use of a considerable degree of pressure to unscrew it,since the pressure of the spring Will tend to hold the screw-threads ofthe nut in tight contact With those of the bolt. The bore in the lockingor distended portion of the nut is of sufficient diameter to clear thescrew-threads on the bolt, so that as the parts are contracted by themovement of the nut there will be no injury to the threads of the bolt,which would be the case if the screw threads were carried entirelythrough the nut.

By making the nut in the manner indicated IOO the coiling and shape ofthe nut can be very easily accomplished before the tempering operation,and after such tempering operation the entire nut will be extremelystrong and durable and at the same time afford the necessary spring'action or resiliency1 required in the locking operation.

The nut possessesa very distinct advantage from the fact that thelocking is accomplished by the mere turning of the nut, which affords agreat saving' in time as well as in the expense of additional lockingmeans, such as pins, keys, Sac. v

The nut is one that can be very quickly and readily manufactured bymachinery and can be applied to bolts of the ordinary style andconstruction without the necessity for making any change whatsoever inthe bolt, and the nut can be applied by any wrench capable ofmanipulating ordinary nuts of similar size and shape.

What I regard as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is"

A lock-nut formed from a series of connected coils, each of the coilshaving its contacting faces in parallel relation to the outer end facesof the nut and having the connecting portions between adjacent coilsbent or formed in oblique relation to the contactfaces of the coils, thebody of the nut being provided with a hole of uniform diameter having anuninterrupted, continuous and uniform screw-thread terminating in anenlarged bore having smooth walls, the outer coil of the nut at one endbeing formed of spring material and normally outwardly projected fromthe screw-threaded body of the nut and adapted to be forced back againstsaid body, in combination with a screw-threaded bolt having a uniformdiameter and of a size to allow the nut to be easily screw-threadedthereonto and to have its expanded end coil compressed by continuedrevolution of the nut to be forced back onto and abut against the bodyportion thereof and exert a spring tension to lock the nut onto thebolt, substantially as described.

CHARLES H. SMITH.

lVitnesses:

D. O. DUNCAN, E. M. SWAN.

